Greetings!
There is a lot of confusion all over the country about a controversial North Carolina bill (SB 31) that will make it a felony to practice medicine without a license. Many of you have been contacting us the past few days to see what we think and what can be done.
You may have seen one of the many emails going around with statements such as: "North Carolina is voting on a bill that would criminalize homeopaths, naturopaths, midwives, herbalists and anyone else who practices 'non-conventional medicine.' They would all be arrested as felons, rounded up, prosecuted and sent to prison for 'practicing medicine' without a conventional medical license."
This is obviously concerning to those of us who use or practice alternative medicine, and therefore we at LFNH are following this bill very closely and are in contact with individuals in Raleigh who are directly involved with this bill.
To the best of our understanding, this bill is not meant to criminalize practitioners of alternative therapies. Its purpose is to prevent individuals who are not MDs from calling themselves MDs. For example, one provider in Charlotte was using the license of a deceased MD in Florida and without this law there is little the NC Board of Medicine can do to punish him. This law would give the Board the legal authority to prevent fraudulent doctors like this one in Charlotte from deceiving the public.
We have heard from several sources that this bill is not intended to punish alternative practitioners. We do know that the Senator who is the bill sponsor has obtained in writing a commitment from the NC Board of Medicine that this bill will not be used against alternative practitioners and there is general support in the legislature that they do not have the intent of making alternative practitioners felons.
That being said, the wording of this bill as it stands is very vague, and is thus creating a lot of confusion and fear in NC and around the country. Because the bill's language is not specific, it makes it appear that it is targeted against alternative practitioners. Also, if it passes as worded, perhaps it could be used, in the wrong hands, to go against practitioners like us who do not have a licensing authority in this state.
Therefore, one action step that can be taken is for you to contact your North Carolina Legislators and request that the wording of the bill be modified to more clearly state that this is only intended for MDs and is NOT to be used against alternative practitioners. We feel this is very important because as the language is currently, there is a lot of room open for interpretation that may put everyone in the alternative medical community at risk.
One final note-this is how we understand the situation as of today. As with anything in politics, things can change very fast, and new information appears all the time. As we learn more, we plan to post updates to our Facebook page, so please check in there as we share what we learn.
Yours in Health,
Dr. Eric and Dr. Kristina
Lewis Family Natural Health
828-298-4800 |
